Nanny
Well Crap! I just spend 20 minutes typing a post only to have IE freeze up on me and lost the whole thing. Oh well, I'm over it.
So Nanny's fall: this is one of many, the fourth resulting in a break. This time it's her right hip. Before it has been her tail bone, left hip and pelvic ring. The fall that broke her pelvic ring broke it in three places. After each of these prior breaks she spent a few days in the hospital before being sent to a nursing home for rehab for about 6 weeks. All of this BTW in the last 3 years. Also in that time she has lost a drastic amount of weight. She is 5' 7" and now weighs 103.4 pounds. She won't eat - Karen has tried all of Nanny's favorites and she only ever eats a few bites of anything. They have her on meds now that are normally for cancer patients to help her appetite.
After this break however, they saw fit to send her home directly from the hospital after only one night. She was unable to walk at all or even stand with help. She had to be lifted from the wheelchair or bed onto a potty chair. Karen and I did that with no complaint except that it was causing her pain and we didn't understand why this didn't merit rehab. ***Not to mention we were pissed at the hospital for bringing her downstairs to Karen's minivan to go home - with no pants! She had a little blanket on her lap but when the nurse picked her up out of the wheelchair to get her in the van the little blanket fell down and she was NAKED from the waist down on a cold windy day at the main entrance to the hospital in front of many people coming and going. --- Yep, I said naked from the waist down - don't even get me started about that.
After one week at home and home aids and nurses visiting from time to time she had gotten worse. While one of the aids was helping her wash Nanny's feet swelled (a lot!) and turned blue. Back to the hospital she went and a few days later, into rehab she went.
It has been almost 5 weeks since she started rehab and she has made almost no progress. The other times it was only about a week before they had her up and walking the halls (with a walker and a PT walking along with her) during her therapy sessions. By the time 5 weeks rolled around it was like "okay, i think she can go home now, she's moving better than before the fall!" This time at past 4 weeks and she still can't take more than 1 step, MAYBE 2 if she's feeling frisky.
Also, before this fall she had started over the last couple of years to have some confusion here and there but for the most part the woman was sharp as a tack. Especially considering she is 79 years old. But since this last fall she is having more and more confusion. It seems that there are more "off" days than good ones now.
Things like asking about pets that died 30 years or more ago. And when her son-in-law asked if she wanted him to call to get the yard guy to come out to the house she told him to "wait until George gets home and talk to him about it." -George was her husband and he died in 1983.
Day before yesterday we were visiting and she asked how Pam was (her daughter, Karen's mother, who BTW had a heart attack less than two weeks ago but is home now and doing okay)
Karen,"Mother's doing okay she called me this morning and she's feeling much better."
Nanny, "Called from where?"
Karen,"From her house, she went home three days ago member?"
Nanny "What house?"
Karen "Mother's house, Nanny. You know, the trailer house?"
Nanny "I thought they gave that up?"
They have been living in that house for years. When Karen asked what she meant Nanny shook her head, shrugged her shoulders and said "never mind I'm thinking of something else."
She also has in the last 6 weeks gotten to where no matter how we or the aids or nurses get her seated in her wheelchair, bed, or recliner (we took it to the nursing home so she'd be more comfortable) within a few minutes she is slumped over to her right side. She doesn't notice when this happens.
At first when we told the nurses the confusion had gotten way worse they said not to worry it was just from the surgery (after the second trip the er they decided it was a good idea after all) and that older people take longer to rid they bodies of the anesthesia but after this long that is so not even possible. They are going to run some evals this week for psych and nerve stuff and see if they can't figure out what's going on.
Hopefully they will be able to do something for her.
So Nanny's fall: this is one of many, the fourth resulting in a break. This time it's her right hip. Before it has been her tail bone, left hip and pelvic ring. The fall that broke her pelvic ring broke it in three places. After each of these prior breaks she spent a few days in the hospital before being sent to a nursing home for rehab for about 6 weeks. All of this BTW in the last 3 years. Also in that time she has lost a drastic amount of weight. She is 5' 7" and now weighs 103.4 pounds. She won't eat - Karen has tried all of Nanny's favorites and she only ever eats a few bites of anything. They have her on meds now that are normally for cancer patients to help her appetite.
After this break however, they saw fit to send her home directly from the hospital after only one night. She was unable to walk at all or even stand with help. She had to be lifted from the wheelchair or bed onto a potty chair. Karen and I did that with no complaint except that it was causing her pain and we didn't understand why this didn't merit rehab. ***Not to mention we were pissed at the hospital for bringing her downstairs to Karen's minivan to go home - with no pants! She had a little blanket on her lap but when the nurse picked her up out of the wheelchair to get her in the van the little blanket fell down and she was NAKED from the waist down on a cold windy day at the main entrance to the hospital in front of many people coming and going. --- Yep, I said naked from the waist down - don't even get me started about that.
After one week at home and home aids and nurses visiting from time to time she had gotten worse. While one of the aids was helping her wash Nanny's feet swelled (a lot!) and turned blue. Back to the hospital she went and a few days later, into rehab she went.
It has been almost 5 weeks since she started rehab and she has made almost no progress. The other times it was only about a week before they had her up and walking the halls (with a walker and a PT walking along with her) during her therapy sessions. By the time 5 weeks rolled around it was like "okay, i think she can go home now, she's moving better than before the fall!" This time at past 4 weeks and she still can't take more than 1 step, MAYBE 2 if she's feeling frisky.
Also, before this fall she had started over the last couple of years to have some confusion here and there but for the most part the woman was sharp as a tack. Especially considering she is 79 years old. But since this last fall she is having more and more confusion. It seems that there are more "off" days than good ones now.
Things like asking about pets that died 30 years or more ago. And when her son-in-law asked if she wanted him to call to get the yard guy to come out to the house she told him to "wait until George gets home and talk to him about it." -George was her husband and he died in 1983.
Day before yesterday we were visiting and she asked how Pam was (her daughter, Karen's mother, who BTW had a heart attack less than two weeks ago but is home now and doing okay)
Karen,"Mother's doing okay she called me this morning and she's feeling much better."
Nanny, "Called from where?"
Karen,"From her house, she went home three days ago member?"
Nanny "What house?"
Karen "Mother's house, Nanny. You know, the trailer house?"
Nanny "I thought they gave that up?"
They have been living in that house for years. When Karen asked what she meant Nanny shook her head, shrugged her shoulders and said "never mind I'm thinking of something else."
She also has in the last 6 weeks gotten to where no matter how we or the aids or nurses get her seated in her wheelchair, bed, or recliner (we took it to the nursing home so she'd be more comfortable) within a few minutes she is slumped over to her right side. She doesn't notice when this happens.
At first when we told the nurses the confusion had gotten way worse they said not to worry it was just from the surgery (after the second trip the er they decided it was a good idea after all) and that older people take longer to rid they bodies of the anesthesia but after this long that is so not even possible. They are going to run some evals this week for psych and nerve stuff and see if they can't figure out what's going on.
Hopefully they will be able to do something for her.
posted by Amanda | 2:44 AM
1 Comments:
Aw, that has to be tough on Karen. I'll be thinking about y'all and her grandma. Hope everything turns out okay. :)
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